Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90085 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“Take her to the cabin. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll call you once I have instructions.”
I nodded, then knew I had to go ahead and tell him. I’d blurted out the truth to her in my rage. Needing her to understand that he wasn’t some nice guy she was defending. He wasn’t any better than me.
“I told her,” I said, preparing for I didn’t know what. A beatdown. Getting slammed onto the stone this time instead of the wall.
His gaze shot to her. “What did you tell her?”
“You know. But it was time she knew. It’s not just us she’s in contact with. That motherfucker has been stalking her.”
Linc’s gaze snapped back to me. “We don’t know that it’s him. You keep your head. Calm down.”
“It’s him,” I said, having no doubt. “He got one look at her, saw those goddamn dimples and heard her laugh, and became obsessed.”
Linc’s eyes widened slightly, and then he cut his eyes in her direction.
“You’d know about that, wouldn’t you?” he asked me, then turned and headed up the stairs to the front door of his house.
I stood there, not looking at her as I tried to do what he’d said. Defuse. Get control over the turmoil inside my head.
When the door closed behind him, I finally turned to look at her. She was staring at me. Questions and uncertainty swirling in her eyes. She was probably scared of me now. Of us. I’d not painted a pretty picture.
“I guess we go to the cabin now?” she asked.
I nodded.
Yeah, we were going to the cabin. Alone. While this animalistic need to mark her as mine fought to break free.
That’s a fan-fuckin’-tastic idea.
Forty-Four
Montana
Than stalked toward the cabin door ahead of me. He’d stayed silent on the drive back here from Linc’s. And all I could do was think about what he’d said to Linc about me—what Wayon had seen and how he had gotten obsessed. Linc’s response to him had been equally interesting.
I was probably reading into it, but…well, when it came to Than, I was weak. Desperate for him to feel even a tiny fraction of what I felt for him.
Emotions I’d never meant to have.
They’d just shown up, guns blazing. Taking over my good sense and my heart.
When he reached the door, he unlocked it, then held it open for me. I glanced at him as I passed, and the wild gleam in his eyes was similar to the one he had on the night he’d read the letters. Except it was much darker. There was a ferocity to it now.
The door closed, and I wasn’t sure what to say or do. I wanted to talk. I had questions, and he was wound up so tight. I wanted to know why.
Was there bad blood between him and Wayon? Was that it? Maybe it had nothing to do with me at all.
“What will Linc do? Who’s Blaise?” I asked him the easier questions.
“Blaise is the boss. There are those who lead each branch, but only one boss. And Linc will do whatever Blaise tells him to do.”
I licked my lips nervously. This was a lot to take in. “Um, how do you get to be a boss? Or the boss?”
He tossed the keys to his truck on the coffee table. “You don’t get to be one. You’re born into it. Jediah Hughes started the Southern Mafia in the early 1900s. It’s been handed down to the oldest son in Jediah’s line since then. Blaise is Jediah’s great-great-grandson. He took over a few years ago when his father wanted to retire and spend more time with his new wife.”
Than cut his eyes to me. “You’re handling it better than I expected.”
I let out a strangled laugh. “Am I? Because I can’t decide if I should freak out or not.”
He smirked, then sat down on the sofa.
“So, all of you—Gathe, Oz, Bane…”
When I said Bane’s name, I realized he had a young wife and baby. Did she know? Of course she did. She lived with the lot of them. She had to know.
“Yep. All born into it. Our fathers and their fathers.”
“Oh,” I said, thinking back to the night I’d had dinner with Wayon. “I don’t think Pax knows about Wayon being a part of the Mafia.”
Than sneered. “Not just a part, but the next leader of the Louisiana branch.”
Wayon was handsome and charismatic. Now that I knew he was wealthy and powerful, I wondered, why would he stalk me? That made no sense. It couldn’t be him.
“I don’t think it’s him. He wasn’t the kind of person to stalk someone. And the things he said in those letters, I can’t imagine he’d—”
Than shot up off the sofa, and I stopped talking. His eyes narrowed as he moved toward me. Okay, so I hadn’t been scared of him before, but the look in his eyes right now was frightening.